Regular season ends with split; regional play here on Friday

LEGION POST 147 BASEBALL

Medford’s Post 147 American Legion baseball team finished its regular season Monday night with a doubleheader split against visiting Marathon at Jaycee Field.

The offense never got going in game one and was unable to dig out of a quick deficit in a 7-1 loss. But the offense did get going early in game two with a sevenrun first inning that sparked a 14-4 rout in five innings.

The split puts Post 147 at 11-4 for the summer heading into the Class AA regional tournament the team will host this weekend at Jaycee Field. The fiveteam, double-elimination tournament starts with three games on Friday, including Medford’s 7 p.m. contest against the winner of the 1 p.m. game between Rhinelander and Eagle River. Merrill and Minocqua play the second game on Friday at 4 p.m.

Pitcher Jack Wojcik wiggled out of a major first-inning jam by allowing just one run in Monday’s second game and the offense went to work in the bottom half.

Hayden Strebig walked and singles by Wojcik and Evan Wilkins scored Strebig. Marathon pitcher Cody Radtke hit Tanner Hraby and Parker Lissner with pitches to force in a run and Braxton Weissmiller reached on an error, knocking in the third run of the inning.

With two down and the bases loaded, Nick Steliga brought all three runners in with a double and he scored on Logan Kawa’s single up the middle.

Leading 8-3, Medford put the game away with a six-run fourth. Carson Carbaugh and Strebig walked, while Wojcik was hit by a pitch to load the bases. An error on a grounder hit by Wilkins brought in two runs. Wild pitches scored the next two runs. After Lissner singled, Weissmiller’s bad-hop single plated another run and the last run scored on a fielder’s choice hit by Charlie Gierl.

Wojcik got the win, covering the first three innings. Steliga and Gierl finished up with an inning each.

Marathon got two big hits early in the seven-inning first game to break it open. In the first, Post 469 loaded the bases and, with two down, Grant Warren unloaded them with a three-run double to left. Radtke’s two-run single in the fourth made it 5-0 and Derek Vesely and Cooper Hoeksma hit RBI singles in the sixth for a 7-0 lead.

Medford got on the board in the bottom of the seventh with a Weissmiller double, followed by a one-out single from Gierl. Strebig pitched four innings and allowed four walks, three hits and five earned runs while striking out one. Carbaugh covered the last three innings, allowing two earned runs, four hits and a walk while striking out two.

Hraby and Lissner added hits for Medford.

Medford 8, Auburndale 2

Another fast start on Friday led Post 147 to a comfortable 8-2 win over visiting Auburndale in a seven-inning contest.

All of Medford’s offensive damage was done in the first three innings, creating an 8-0 lead. Hraby pitched four scoreless innings, striking out three and walking one while giving up five hits. Steliga finished, allowing five hits, two earned runs, a walk and a hit batter while striking out one.

Max Dietzman and Kawa both went two for three with RBI doubles. Strebig also went two for three.

Dietzman’s two-run double came in the three-run first inning and followed a run-scoring infield hit by Weissmiller. Kawa singled to lead off the second, Wojcik reached on an error and Strebig hit an infield single to load the bases with no outs. Wilkins and Lissner drove in runs with groundouts and a third run scored on a wild pitch.

In the third, Steliga hit a one-out single and scored on Kawa’s double. Kawa scored on a base hit by Wojcik. Blake Raab took the loss for Auburndale, who got single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Raab pitched all six innings, allowing 11 hits and six earned runs while striking out four and walking one.

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Medford third baseman Charlie Gierl hustles to the bag after fielding a ground ball and gets a forceout on a Marathon runner during the fourth inning of Monday’s gametwo win.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS